Tag Archives: tutorial

oops! Between everything happening around here I completely forgot to announce Team Timeless, and introduce my first tutorial with them!!

Team Timeless is a group of 4 designers chosen by Timeless Treasures. Each month, a new designer will showcase a Timeless Treasures collection and present a tutorial for it.

My month was May (again, oops!)

I got to play with these bright, colorful prints from Crayon Party collection. So of course, I had to make myself some big bold crayons!

I called this quilt Scribble, inspired by my littlest kidlet. He loves to color anything with everything! Scribble is made using half yard cuts of both prints and backgrounds.

My best friend’s farm was the perfect setting for photos. and afterwards, I donated this quilt to her school fundraiser. She holds a lot of quilts for me whenever I ask, it was the least I could do!

I quilted it with all over swirls and scribbles, like a doodling pencil line.

Zip on over to the Timeless Treasures blog to find the free tutorial to make your own Scribbles quilt. Perfect for the little ones starting school this month! It goes together quick and easy. And while you are there, check out what the other designers are up to as well.

I am so excited to share a tutorial with you all for my newest quilt using Shannon’s line, Dryad! I met Shannon at Quilt Market last October, and I fell in love with Dryad. The colors are bold and vibrant and earthy, and some of the prints have some subtle metallic details. Shannon is also super awesome and so easy to chat with! When she asked me if I wanted to make a project with Dryad for her blog hop, of course I said yes! Fabri-Quilt sent me a Snack Pack, which contains 42-2 1/2″ wide strips of fabric. It also has a handy swatch chart on the back so you can preview the fabrics and know how many of each print are included in the pack.

I have four favorite prints (because I couldn’t pick just one). First is the main print in the cool greens, which contains bits and pieces of each prints in that colorway. The print is reminiscent of Shannon’s Scrappy Bits Applique style, which I think works really really well with the collection. It adds a lot of visual interest and pops of color to the pieces.

Next is the bright orange print I nicknamed branchlers, because they look like branches and antlers. The orange in person is the PERFECT hue of orange. Orange can be a hard color to pull off, and Shannon nailed it. NAILED IT. Also, kiddo loves it too!

The next is the text print. The text is a Robert Frost poem “Into My Own” written in Shannon’s own handwriting. At first glance the fabric looks black, but it’s really a rich deep indigo blue that sets off perfectly with the other fabrics in the line and would compliment a lot of what’s already in my stash.

Next is the leaf print with metallic accents. I couldn’t pick between the gold and green at first, but the gold won out. It makes good almost neutral compliment to all of the other fabrics and I can see myself using it in other projects as well.

Now, I am always trying to stretch my creativity when it comes to precut fabrics. I wanted to make something simple, but that so did not happen. I had a brainstorm and ran with it, and the result is a full tutorial that uses almost all of the fabrics included in the Snack Pack. The quilt can be made by either a very patient, confident beginner, or an intermediate/advanced quilter. There are two options and you can just continue with whichever option you choose, it’s very streamlined! I added a metallic ivory print from my stash, and a blue binding fabric that looked like water ripples.

Greeting from ~Enchanted Forest~

I really wanted to have the idea of leaves, and at first I was just going to cut out leaf shapes from my strip sets. Then I started thinking more about the name, Dryad, and how they are mythical creatures that you would probably find in an enchanted forest full of sunlight and unicorns. I thought to myself “If I were in an enchanted forest, I would expect it to sparkle and shine” and the idea of the 3D curved diamonds came to life. The curve of the diamonds create the leafy shape I wanted, but with an added level of sparkle. They are the magic in the forest, the sunshine through the trees, and a perfect skill builder!

I just love how Enchanted Forest turned out, and once I got going I finished in a single day. The top anyways. For quilting, I chose to double up a polycotton blend that was much too thin on its own, and then quilted it in simple straight lines that paralleled the direction of the strips. The result is a lofty warm toddler size quilt. Kiddo simple ADORES the color orange and has already confiscated this quilt. Wish me luck getting this one back to show off at Guild!

Now, before the tutorial begins, here is all the information you need to follow along with the rest of the hop and enter to win some great prizes!

For a chance to win a bundle of Dryad, sign up to follow Fabri-Quilt’s blog, Inspired by Fabric. Then leave a comment here letting me know that you are signed up! The giveaway is open until Feb 15th at 10pm Pacific Time! Winners will be randomly chosen after the blog hop ends. You can enter to win from each blog too! Isn’t that awesome! Make sure to go check them out, there are a ton of great tutorials and projects to be had. Also, Angela Walters is offering 10% off of Dryad fabrics from her shop, Quilting is My Therapy, during the hop using the promo code DRYAD. Fabri-Quilt just launched an Instagram account, so be sure to share your own Dryad posts with them! C&T is giving one lucky hopper a copy of Shannon’s book, Scrappy Bits Appliqué, and Aurifil will also be promoting Shannon’s coordinating thread line. So much great stuff happening!

And the winner is Comment #65!

chanzy01 who said”This has got to be my favorite stop on the hop so far. I’ve saved, bookmarked and pinned it so there is no chance I can loose it. I already follow Fabric Quilt and their Inspired By Fabric Blog.” Thank you chanzy01, and enjoy your fabric

Block Instructions- Both Skill Levels

Note: To see a photo or illustration larger or in more detail, click on the image and it will open that image full screen.

1. Remove and discard (2) strips from the Dryad Snack pack. Take the remaining (40) strips and randomly sew them together into pairs. Press the seams to one side, and then sew the pairs together to make (10) strip sets 8 1/2″ wide. Press in the same direction.

2. Cut the strip sets into (48) 8 1/2″ squares. You will be able to get (5) squares from a strip set.

3. Lay out the 8 1/2″ pieced squares into sets of (4), rotating the squares as shown so that the strips travel in two different directions. These pieced squares will be sewn together to make a large block with the 3-D shape in the center.

4. Take an 8 1/2″ ivory square and fold it in half wrong sides together (WST). Pin it to the right side of the first pieced square as shown, so that the raw edges match in the corner of the pieces square, and the fold is to the inside of the block. Place the second pieces square right sides together (RST) on top. Sew the pieces together down the side with the fold. Do not press yet.

5. Fold the block out of the way along the seam, so that the folded ivory piece is free. Pin and sew the other side of the folded ivory piece to a second set of pieced squares, in the same manner as before, making sure that the pieced squares are oriented as shown. Do not press yet.

6. Open the block and lay it flat, to check that the strips of the pieced squares are oriented correctly.

7. Place the two pairs of blocks right sides together, matching the side of the seam allowance with the folded ivory piece together. Finger press the seam allowances in opposite directions so that the seam nests together carefully. Make sure that the fold of the ivory piece is not caught up in the square. CLICK HERE for a handy video tutorial for this step! When you open the block it will look like this:

8. From the wrong side, gently open the seam allowance of the first two seams at the center of the block, so that the seams all spin in the same direction. Press the block flat.

10. Take one of the 16 1/2″ diamond blocks and place it right side up on your ironing board. Gently fold one the side of the diamond in towards the center, until the side form a concave curve, usually about 1/4″-3/8″ fold will achieve this. Press the side to set the curve. Repeat for the remaining sides and the remaining diamond blocks.

11. Using a matching thread for each block, topstitch right next to the fold as shown, on the inside of the diamond, backstitching at the start and stop of the seam. Trim the threads or pull them to the back of the block to hide them.

Assembling the Quilt Top -Beginner Quilt

This section is for the beginner quilt. After completing Beginner step 10, scroll down to “Finishing the Quilt”. Skip this section if you wish to complete the Advanced quilt.

10. Sew the finished blocks together into (4) rows with (3) blocks in each row, matching the seam allowances. Press the even rows left and the odd rows right.

11. Sew the rows together, matching the seam allowances. Press the entire quilt top. The finished top will look like this:

Assembling the Quilt Top – Advanced Quilt

Alrighty folks, this is where the steps get a bit strange, but stay with me! You can already make the 3D Diamonds, so adding them into the rows just takes a little patience and longer seams. The corner curves are super easy, and the 3D geese are simple as well. Also, lots of pictures!

10. Take one of the 4 1/2″ ivory squares and fold it in WST. Pin it to the right side in the corner of a diamond block and then baste in in place. Turn the fold back like you did for the diamonds, and topstitch in place. Repeat for the remaining 4 1/2″ ivory squares and three more diamond blocks. This makes (4) corner blocks.

11. Take one of the 4 1/2″x 8 1/2″ ivory rectangles and fold it in half lengthwise WST. Pin it as shown on the right side of a corner block. Take an 8 1/2″ ivory square and fold it WST. Pin it in place as shown in the opposite corner of the same corner block.

12. Place a regular diamond block RST on top of the corner block and sew them together down the side with the folded rectangles. Press the seam allowance right and open the blocks flat.

13. Place a folded ivory rectangle and square on the regular diamond block the same as you did for the corner block, and pin them in place. Place a corner block RST on top, so that the curved square of the corner block is aligned as shown. Sew down the side. Open and press the seam allowance to the right. This is the top row.

14. Take (2) regular diamond blocks and pin a folded ivory rectangles in the top corner of each as shown. These will be the side blocks of the next row.

So far so good! This is where we will construct the 3D blocks that are between the rows. The technique is exactly the same as creating the regular diamond blocks, there is just some prep that needs to be done for each before sewing to set up the next set of 3D pieces in the rows below. The pieces tend to get a bit bulky as each diamond block is added and the rows are constructed, so take your time and use pins.

15. Take the left side block and place a folded ivory square in the bottom corner as shown. Using a pin or a removable marking pen, mark the opposite corner with the X. This is the corner that will be lined up with the other side of the first folded ivory square in the first row.

16. Take the first row and fold it back along the first seam allowance, like you did when constructing the diamond blocks. This will free up the folded ivory square and make it easier to sew the second set of blocks to it.

17. Match the raw edges of the left side block with the raw edges of the first folded ivory square in the first row. Pin, and then place a regular diamond block, now referred to as the center block, on the other side of the folded ivory square, RST with the side block. Sew down the side with the folded ivory square, as you did when constructing the diamond blocks. Open and press the seam allowance to the right.

18. Take the right side block and and place a folded ivory square in the bottom corner as shown. Using a pin or a removable marking pen, mark the opposite corner with the X. This is the corner that will be lined up with the other side of the second folded ivory square in the first row.

19. Match the raw edges of the right side block with the raw edges of the second folded ivory square in the first row. Pin, and then line up the center block on top of the other side of the folded ivory square, RST with the side block. Sew down the side with the folded ivory square. Open and press the seam allowance to the right.

Open the piece, and it will look something like this:

20. Place the two rows right sides together and pin at the seam allowances, adjusting and pinning the ivory pieces the same as when you made the diamond blocks. Sew the two rows together, open, and press towards the second row. It should look like this when you are finished:

21. Prep a second set of side blocks. Sew the blocks of the third row EXACTLY the same as you did for the second row.

23. Take the last two corner blocks and pin the final folded ivory rectangles to them as shown.

24. Using the prepped corner blocks and the remaining diamond block, sew the last row the same as the second and third rows. Press the top well, then baste the open raw edges down to the edges of the quilt top. Fold and press all of the newly formed 3D diamond and geese shapes. Topstitch them down the exact same way you did with the original diamond blocks.

Did you make it through? Then give yourselves a pat on the pack and a chocolate bar, you earned it! It’s smooth sailing from this point!

Finishing the Quilt- Both Skill Levels

Give your quilt top a final press. Piece together the backing so that it measures about 56″x 72″ (you can make it smaller, but since I work on a longarm I like to have the extra wiggle room just in case) and then layer and baste the top, batting and backing. Quilt as desired! I used parallel straight lines and left the centers black, but there is a ton of potential for custom quilting in the strips and in the 3D shapes as well. Piece together the binding strips using a diagonal seam, and then attach the binding to the quilt. Sew on a label, take lots of pretty pictures, and enjoy!

Phew! We made it through! I hope you enjoyed my stop on the hop, and if you have any questions when making your own Enchanted Forest quilt, email me or pop a question in the comments and I will help out as best I can.

When you’re done, tag me on Instagram @staceyinstitches or email me a picture of the finished quilt, I love to see what you make!

Lately I have been so (sew!) busy, that I haven’t had time to write as much as I would like. I have a bunch of ideas strewn about my sewing room on scrap pieces of paper, of ideas for blog posts and tutorials, as well as some free pattern shares for you all. As I find them I will start working my way through them. Well, those still legible despite cat teeth marks and copious amounts of peanut butter fingerprints (those only happen ONCE, and he knows it!)

Today it’s all about paper piecing, which is perfect because I have a couple of patterns for P&B Textiles coming out very soon that use paper peicing!

Cartwheel Mini-Adapted from Cartwheel COnstellation published in AQS magazine January 2010

Paper piecing, also known as foundation piecing, is a method of sewing your fabric to the wrong side of a piece of paper, stitching down the printed lines on the right side of the paper. It makes piecing irregular angles and tiny shapes a breeze, and you don’t have to worry about your straight and bias grain as much as if you were piecing normally. You can also paper piece blocks made from templates or blocks you could piece normally, it makes for very accurate points and corners.

Supernova

My favourite method for paper piecing is a combination of a couple different techniques I have learned over the years. The tutorial works for all manner of foundation patterns, simple, complex, pictorial…

Rainbow Star

When I paper peice ( I am sure you noticed that I interchange the terminology) I like to pre cut my fabrics. This is how I know that a) my pieces will be large enough to cover the entire area of the foundation section, and b) that I actually have enough fabric to make all the pieces. There is nothing worse than cutting a piece too small or not having enough fabric to make all the pieces!

When foundation piecing it is important to pay careful attention to the sewing order of the peices. The sewing order is laid out so that the next seam sewn always covers the first.

To determine the size of strips to use:

Lay the foundation printed side up on your work area. Find the sewing line between the first and second section of the foundation pattern. This line will be the first line you stitch down, so you use this line to find the length of the fabric strips.

*NOTE* If the first section is a triangle shape, or has a long edge that is also the seam allowance, like the triangle of a flying geese block, then you want to use that edge as the length of your first piece plus seam allowance, and then determine the width. I cut Half Square Triangles for triangle shapes, that way there is less waste fabric.

Take a large clear acrylic grid ruler and place it over the template, with the 1/4″ line on the stitching line and the bulk of the ruler covering the first section. Adjust the ruler so that it starts at least a 1/4″ past the end of the stitching line. Find the end of the stitching line, and the measurement on the ruler that corresponds with it. Add 1/4″ to that number. This is the length of your piece with seam allowances included.

Now without moving your ruler, find the outer edge of the first section and the measurement that corresponds with it. Add 1/4″ to that number. This gives you the width of the piece with seam allowances included. Write down the two measurements inside the foundation section, this helps avoid a million measurements on a single piece and avoids confusion. As a general rule, I will add an extra 1/4″ to each measurement as a safety net-sometimes fabric shifts as you are sewing.

Now move your ruler so that the bulk is covering the second section of the foundation pattern, again with the 1/4″ line of the ruler on the same stitching line. Using the same method as above, find the length and width of the piece. Continue across the foundation, from section to section in the order they are sewn, until you have mapped out the measurements of each section.

To determine the amount of fabric you need:

I use this calculation to determine how much fabric I need:

42″ (the average usable Width of Fabric) divided by the length of the piece = the number of pieces per strip (always round this number DOWN to the nearest whole number)

I then divide the number of pieces needed by the number of pieces per strip, and round the answer UP.

Finally, take the number of strips needed and multiply it by the width of the pieces, then divide by 36 ( the number of inches in a yard). The final sum is the required yardage.

So for example:

I need 16 white rectangles 2 1/2″x 7 1/2″

42/7.5= 5.6, rounded down to 5

16 pieces/ 5 pieces per strip =3.2, rounded up to 4 strips

4 strips x 2.5 wide=10″

10/36= 0.2777777 , rounded up to the nearest whole cut of fabric, which is 0.3333333, or 1/3 yard.

Here is a handy chart for you to reference!

0.125 = 1/8 yard

0.250 = 1/4 yard

0.333 = 1/3 yard

0.375 = 3/8 yard

0.5 = 1/2 yard

0.625 = 5/8 yard

0.666 = 2/3 yard

0.75 = 3/4 yard

0.875 = 7/8 yard

1 = 1 yard

I like to label my fabrics in the order they are pieced, that way I don’t confuse myself if there are lots of little pieces.

Now that we have our fabric pieces cut we can start piecing the foundations.

1. Lay the first fabric strip right side up on the wrong side of the paper over the first section of the pattern. Hold the fabric to the paper and look through the printed side of the pattern, holding it up to a light in, to make sure the fabric is covering the entire section and there is approx 1/4″ extending into the second section for seam allowance. Pin in place.

2.Place the fabric labelled #2 right sides together on top of the first, matching the raw edges in the seam allowance. Secure the second piece of fabric, turn the foundation over and stitch down the line between the first and second sections of the pattern, extending your stitching through the printed seam allowance.

*Note* Sometimes it’s easy to misjudge the placement of your fabrics when foundation piecing. When this happens you will have to remove the stitches. The cleanest way to do this is with a sharp seam ripper. Place the seam ripper between the paper and the base layer of the fabric and ripe the stitches. The thread on the paper side will remain intact, all you have to do is pull it off and it will take all the extra thread bits out as well.

3. Press open with a hot, dry iron. Fold the paper back along the second stitching line, where piece 2 and three meet, and trim the seam allowance to 1/4”. I use a piece of template plastic and an Add-A-Quarter Ruler to make this quick and easy.

4. Place the third fabric RST with the second, matching the raw edges to the seam allowance and stitch as before, making sure to stitch at least 1/4″ past the next line or through the outside seam allowance, depending on where the piece is on your template. Continue stitching, pressing, and trimming until all the pieces are sewn.

5. Trim around the pieces, leaving a 1/4” seam allowance. Often the seam allowance is marked as an outline around your shapes.

Some people swear by leaving the paper in when sewing. With simple shapes-squares and rectangles- I will remove the paper before sewing the shapes together. This gives a tighter, stronger stitch, I can easily match seams, and the fabric feeds evenly through the machine. For complex shapes, such as wedges and triangles, I will first pin the pieces with the foundations intact to make sure my seam allowances line up, and then remove the paper from the bottom piece, the one that is going to be at the feed dogs. That way I have a line to follow, and I know my pieces will line up. I find that when I leave both layers of paper I get slippage and the fabrics shift inside the paper.

Poppin’ Pillow

I use this same technique for pretty well all of my paper piecing. You can make so many awesome blocks with it, I really hope you find it helpful!

This is my very first published pattern, and I am so excited to be able to FINALLY share it with you!

I always have quilt designs floating around, and when Fat Quarterly put out a call for submissions for their scraps issue, I knew exactly which quilt to make.

Presenting Putting on the Ritz!

Putting on the Ritz

We took the pictures over the holidays at my parents home. It’s always a gorgeous winter wonderland up on the mountain. Nothing like fresh air and snow to get your heart going! It also makes the perfect backdrop for a fun, colorful quilt shoot.

You can’t see it from here, but there is a drop off behind the bend that goes down a few feet. My darling hubby scaled the embankment just so I wouldn’t have footprints in my pictures. I’m a lucky gal!

You can find Issue 16, and pretty much any other Issue, here. The Scraps issue is chock full of fantastic scrappy patterns that will bust through those scraps in no time!

I would love to see your version of Putting on the Ritz! Send me a photo of the completed top or quilt and I will be sure to share it on the blog.

My name is Stacey, and I live in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I have been blogging here for just over a year now. I love to quilt, and Paper piecing stars and compasses are my favorite. I am a founding member of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, and I love it! I am a self-described Hybrid Quilter, not fully traditional, not fully modern, but fully a quilter! I love to write patterns, and I work as an X-Ray Technologist to support my quilting addiction.

I hope you enjoy your visit.

I am so excited to share my newest quilt with everyone- Sherbert At The Beach!

Sherbert at the Beach

Sherbert at the Beach is my Michael Miller Cotton Couture Challenge quilt. I gets its name from a memory of the summer, when I took my little guy to the beach on a hot day. We had ice cream and it dripped all over the sand, too fast for us to catch it. It was a great day that I will always remember. When the challenge was announced at the August guild meeting the bright, citrus palette immediately brought the idea of bright fruity sherbert to mind and the memory of that day. Having only worked with Kona solids at that point, the Michael Miller Cotton Couture was a pleasant change for me. I like the texture and the weight of the fabric. It is almost a voile weight. Very light, easy to sew. I chose a Free Spirit Designer Solid in Sandstone as by background color to keep the colors popping without looking like a neon sign. I also used it for the backing and binding, and threw my extra blocks onto the back. WHAT?! A Pieced back you say! That’s right, I finally did it!

The quilt consists of 16 Disappearing Nine Patch blocks. Those were a lot of fun to make once I got over the fact that I was technically making each block twice. I chose random color placements and some I even cut off-center for some variety. Overall it worked out great and this quilt is probably the most truly modern thing I have ever made.

Quilting Detail

I chose an overall meandering square design for the quilting. I saw the design used by Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting some weeks ago, and I immediately thought if it when I was preparing to quilt. I free motion quilted mine however, and getting those points perfect takes some practice! Not all the lines are perfectly straight, which I think gives it a great organic feel. I used a YLI Coated Cotton Quilting thread in Rose for the top and Mettler Metrosene for the bobbin. The balance between the two threads was amazing and you cannot see the colored thread on the back.

YLI Coated Cotton Thread in Rose

I was very impressed with the thread. I was afraid that the weight combined with the coating would not go over well, but it is specially made for machine quilting, which definitely shows when you are quilting. I highly recommend trying some out!

Quilting Detail

Thank you everyone for for coming over for a visit! There will be lots of exciting things happening here at Stacey in Stitches over the next few months, so feel free to follow along!

As promised, here is the free pattern I promised you all! Some of you may recall the Quilted Clock I made for my FLiRTS swap partner. There was enough interest to turn that clock into a pattern. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This go round I really wanted to make something fab, and I was hoping to get a bag that I have been eyeballing FOREVER.

I made a Quilted Clock for my partner.I am happy with how it turned out, and thankfully my parter commented about it so I know she is going to love it!

The Quilted Clock

I designed the pattern in my EQ7 and pulled some great fabrics out of my stash. The clockwork I picked up from the local craft shop. Getting the clock hands to fit and still turn without brushing against the fabric was a bit of a challenge. I ended up building the back up layer by layer until it was the right thickness, then enclosing it in a little pouch made from the backing scraps, and hand sewing it to the back of the clock. I am thinking about posting a tutorial or the pattern if there is enough interest.

I received my item in the mail just before the long weekend. I was so super stoked and happy I giggled like a maniac and my good old hubster though I had lost my mind.

My Partner made me this Gorgeous, Wonderful, SUPER AWESOME 241 BAG!

Rainbow 241 Bag

I love this bag!!

It has some of my favorite collections in it- Flea Market Fancy, Madrona Road….

I love that she used the cream text print from Madrona Road for the sides.

I was asked by Sew Sisters to come up with a tutorial for their Kona Club Challenge. Sew Sisters is an Online/Brick and Mortar Quilt Shop located in Toronto, Canada. They have an amazing selection of quilting cottons, solids, notions and patterns, and the shipping is some of the most reasonable around, especially if you live here in the Great White North.

The Kona Club is one of the best monthly clubs online too! They send you 4 different Kona Colors in Fat Quarters or Half Yards every month. Each month they post a different inspiration photo and use it to choose the colors. It is a fabulous way to build your solids stash and see colors you may not normally use in a coordinated bundle. I am a member of the Kona Club, and my solids stash is getting pretty respectable. I used most of them in my Modern Mystery Quilt. Let the inspiration strike!

I set to work with the December 2012 palette of Burgundy, Wine, Evergreen and Amber. The Candy Dish was the brainchild of a stack of fat quarters sitting on the kitchen table, a bag of hard candies, and random comment of “let the candy season commence.”

LIGHTBULB!

Candy Dishes!

Hop on over here to see how you too can make a lovely customized set of Candy Dishes (or Bowls, or Buckets) for yourself!

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Welcome to my world of quilting fun! I am a quilter, author pattern writer, and designer. My book, Child's Play Quilts, is available at your LQS or online. You can find my collection of free patterns in the tabs below. I love to hear from my readers, so feel free to drop me a line! Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your time here at Stacey in Stitches.